Babies With Drug Withdrawal Syndrome More Likely to be Readmitted to Hospital

Babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) are more than twice as likely to be readmitted to the hospital within a month after birth, compared with full-term infants born with no complications, a new study concludes.

Babies born with NAS undergo withdrawal from the addictive drugs their mothers took during pregnancy, such as oxycodone, morphine or hydrocodone. Symptoms can include seizures, fever, excessive crying, tremors, vomiting and diarrhea. Withdrawal can take several weeks to a month.

Previous studies have found NAS is becoming an increasing problem because of the rise in prescription drug abuse, HealthDay reports.

The new study, published in Hospital Pediatrics, included information from more than 750,000 births in New York state between 2006 and 2009. The researchers wanted to find out if babies with NAS are at increased risk of hospital readmission within a month of discharge, compared with babies born full-term without complications, and with late preterm babies.

The researchers from Vanderbilt University found more than 1,600 babies had NAS. They were almost 2.5 times more likely to be readmitted to the hospital within a month after birth, compared with babies without NAS. The most common reason babies with NAS were readmitted to the hospital was withdrawal. Preterm babies without NAS were most commonly readmitted for jaundice.

“The recent rise of neonatal abstinence syndrome led to efforts in many hospital systems to improve hospital care being delivered to infants with the syndrome,” said study author Dr. Stephen Patrick. “Our findings suggest that these improvements need to extend beyond the initial birth hospitalization to ensure a safe discharge home,” he said in a news release.

“As state and federal policymakers work towards strategies to improve outcomes for women with substance use disorder and their infants, it will be important to ensure that families are supported during the critical transition from hospital to home to limit the risk of hospital readmission,” Patrick said.